Revolve 2009

This past weekend, I went to the Revolve tour. Revolve is a girls only, two-day conference that encourages them to be comfortable in their own skin. It was very much a last second thing--I had spent most of Friday hanging out. There was lunchtime catching up with Raychel, and collaborating ideas for junior high ministry this summer. There was Bible time with Rachel, where we read the book of Ruth and enjoyed slurpees. There was attending Kristina's basketball game, where they creamed the other team. Not even joking, it was probably 70-something to 20-something.

All of this gave me thirty minutes to get ready to leave with Jordan for Revolve. We wondered if we'd even get tickets, and strangely enough, we got some of the best seats in the house!! Two of the bands whose singers came off the stage ended up walking/dancing right next to us! Very surreal--especially if one of those bands was Hawk Nelson. haha. But maybe I shouldn't mention the fact that during one of their songs he forgot the words at the beginning, and then couldn't catch up. He would sing two lines and start laughing again at his mistake. Weird.

I also had a chance to meet one of the singers from the group Out of Eden. She's a sweet gal, and has a cool story.

Chad Eastham was the (only) male speaker, and he spent time talking about how girls who are comfortable with who they are are much more attractive to guys. Sure, they get distracted by the beach blond, or the short skirts.. but who doesn't really? He was very funny, and very good.

Then there was Jenna Lucado, the daughter of that one writer ;). She looked a lot like Hilary Swank. Again, another good speaker. I just found it interesting that the testimonies of all those I've mentioned resonate so closely with one another. I guess I would just find it cool to hear from a speaker who didn't dabble in things like alcoholism, eating disorders, sex, etc. Then again, maybe students need to hear these harder things. I dunno.

And I thought I would include the picture showing Hawk's lead singer walking toward us--Jordan cried!! hehe

Happy Thanksgiving

My mom might appreciate this.

She had called me on Valentine's day and said the wrong phrase at the end of the conversation. "Happy thanksgiving? I don't even know why I said that," she had said. "I'm looking at the CitiBank bill.."

So I ended up telling this story to Kendra and the Stookes that night as we had gone to the bowling alley and then Wendy's for a bit. We all had a good laugh, but not as much as when Amanda had asked me what I had done last year for Valentine's.

I responded, "I honestly don't remember what I did last Thanksgiving." And I didn't notice until Miss Stooke called me out on it. D'oh!

And then Kendra said it too, just a few minutes later! It's like a curse! haha. But it's now a pleasant inside joke :)

Adding to the noise

I just now realized how much I love Switchfoot. I don't know why I didn't admit it before--but three blog titles that reference their songs must mean something. And I was just listening to their older stuff, both "Amy's Song" and "Let that be Enough" always get to me. Oh, and "Company Car" for me is such a great summer driving song.



Any way, the title this time is in reference to the last week of the Green Eggs and Ham Series on Spiritual Disciplines. The point was that even though these disciplines may be weird, or even appear distasteful, they're worth trying. And who knows, you may even like them.

We started off with Bible Study, and the podcast can be heard at highpointstuff.com. To get there you just click on the "Senior High" button, then scroll to the bottom of the page to find the podcast link. It might be a little funny because we had used two movie clips to transition, but hopefully you will get the point.

The second and third weeks were taught by other leaders, and they discussed Fasting and Prayer. This final week looked at Solitude, and I was very much looking forward to it.

I had a few of the students put a band together to play "Adding to the Noise" as the intro, which immediately led into a moment of silence accompanied by a powerpoint. The powerpoint looked at Psalm 46 and introduced the Hebrew term "selah," which means to stop and listen. I had never heard (for lack of a better term) the students so quiet before. Then came the conglomeration of Amanda Stooke, Mark Poshak and myself to speak about different parts of solitude and interrupted once by a time of silent communion. All of this ended with a music video to yet another Switchfoot song, "This is Your Life," which was made by a junior who is very good at editing videos. Very cool, and very fun.

Even in the weeks leading up to this one, I had noticed a lot of my own habits of adding to the noise. I have been convicted of how much I watch t.v. and for what reason; how much I listen to music, and what I listen to; and how much time is spent on the internet. Thinking about this Sunday, coupled with reading Youth Culture 101 by Walt Mueller, has helped a lot with my perspective on what comes into my mind by the things that I do and don't do.

I'm encouraged to filter what I see/hear, without necessarily putting a complete stop to it all. I guess it goes along with that "in and not of the world" thing.

"the God who's not short of cash..."

I am currently under the $3,000 mark in support raising! This is very encouraging, as each day it seems, God blesses me with another gift toward the trip to Russia. I am becoming more and more eager for the journey ahead. Please be praying for me to reach the goal within the next few weeks!

p.s. the title are lyrics from a Switchfoot song.

Prayer Retreat

A group of six high school gals and I went to downtown Denver this weekend to pray. We spent the night at Central Presbyterian Church, a beautiful church that was built in 1908.

Most of the night was spent telling our life stories, and then praying for the needs of each other that came out during those stories. It was cool to see each student pray for one another, and that we never had to force it. We had a moment too, where we texted some friends asking how we could pray for them. I wrote the responses on a whiteboard; there were about 20. The seven of us then had a concert of prayer for all of those folks that lasted quite awhile. The sound was majestic.

I also learned a lot about what a prayer retreat could like in the future. I was glad to start small, and to be in a location other than the home church. I'm hoping to continue doing this sort of thing, and with a few more options for how we can pray. What works for you?

Las Picturas

John and his roomie from last year.

Me and my roomie from last year :)

Me and rach, along with Victor's name tag on my right arm.

Janna and I say, "Don't mess with Texas."

Brrrrrrr

The last week spent in Chicago was wonderful in so many ways. First of all, a chance to see John again is always a plus :), and reconnecting with all of my Northwestern friends adds to that even more! Each day I got to spend time with some of the nearest and dearest--sharing a meal, or distracting them from work, or even celebrating the fact that I'm real. Haha.

I also loved seeing the campus again. Although, strangely enough, just walking on campus gave me this weird sense of stress; as though I was supposed to not be having fun, but busy with papers or studying for exams. That's Northwestern for you. Oh, and it was also a blast to join John during a math class that was way above me. My notes included quotes from the professor that I thought were funny, but turned out (usually) to just be funny to a communications major who doesn't understand math.

Additionally, I got to spend practically a whole day with Ariel, which was certainly a highlight. We ate at Lulu's, watched Slumdog Millionnaire and just talked and talked.. I was also thankful that she ended up coming to the party that was thrown by the two freshmen boys who had questioned my existence since the beginning of the school year.

With Janna, we played some Mario Kart, talked with Tim through video chat, enjoyed classic Ethel's hot chocolate, and caught up mostly during a lunch at Wendy's (Janna + Wendy's = fantastic combination. just sayin). I have seen a lot of growth in her, and I'm excited for her coming graduation!

To end the week (and a lot more happened, but I figured you'd most enjoy the highlights), John and I went downtown for the night! We ate at Maggiano's (MMMM!!) and then went to Navy Pier to watch The Dark Knight on the IMAX screen. That was really cool because most of the film was shot in the city and at Navy Pier. Crazy! The only thing was it was super cold. I would say that was the first time I've purposefully walked into a liquor store. But if you were as cold as we were, you would've done the same thing--trust me!

Overall, a beautiful week, and it was capped off with the Midwinter Covenant Conference. There I got to learn some helpful tips on leading a small group and asking good questions. I was also challenged by a couple that I met who purposefully lives in South Chicago in order to be good neighbors. That, paired with a talk by Shane Claiborne, is a graceful slap to the face as to how I can be more intentional in my living and serving others.

Pics in the next episode.. er.. blog. Shalom.